September 21, 2011
Last weekend I was in Walla Walla, Washington for the Whitman College Alumni Board meeting. We were basically a group of 13 people (graduates from between 1962 and 2007) from across the country joined by a common experience. A group committed to strengthening ties other alumnus have with the school.
Talk focused on finalizing our five-year strategic plan with a vision to create a place alumnus call “home.” We want to strengthen the bonds Whitties have with each other and the school.
It’s important to know the bonds are already pretty strong. We all realize our college experience is different from the experience many others have in college. Around 50 percent of our alums give financially to the school each year. Many more are involved through their volunteer effort. Many of us started the planning process by asking ourselves questions:
- What do I care most about regarding Whitman?
- Why do I care? After all it’s been more than 30 years!
- Who else cares? Why does that matter to me?
- How can I help those who care?
- What can I do to make more people to care?
By asking fellow alumni these questions, we’ll be able to create a plan that helps strengthen ties with the school. It’s a long-term project we’re excited about and hope is successful.
In thinking about it, these are great questions for communicators to ask when creating community relations plans. When I look at applying these lessons to clients, the same principles and similar questions apply:
- What do employees care most about? Why?
- What are the biggest needs in our community?
- How can we help strengthen the community?
- Is there a way our employees can also help through volunteering?
- What about our customers? Where do they want us to help?
- What can we do to make more people care about this?
The answers to these and other questions help provide a framework from which a targeted community relations plan can be developed. Like many other aspects of communications, without a plan that includes measurable goals you can’t possibly know if you’re truly been successful.
How do you help your clients make sure their community programs are on target and focus in areas they care about. How do you identify organizations that need your client’s help?
~It sounds simple but it’s really not.
September 21, 2010
My son is a high school senior so we’ve spent some time visiting college campuses. He’s looking for a challenging academic program where he feels part of a vibrant on-campus community that likes to have fun while learning.
The visits and his responses made me think about what comprises a community and how it has changed.
- As a child, we played with the other kids in our neighborhood and they became our friends. The furthest we ventured was about 4 blocks up/down the hill. Yet we were a hearty band of about 15 people. We were a tight-knit group who stayed together through high school.
- College changed all that because we “went away” to school and made new friends in a new community. The neighborhood gang turned into the sorority, dorm or major friends. In my case, Whitman was its own community of 1,100 students who connected on many levels – adjusting to being away from home, academic rigors, social challenges of colleges, remoteness of Walla Walla to name a few.
I’m dating myself here but these things all occurred before there were cell phones, or even computers and the Internet like we have today. Our reliance on those near us was critical and we banded together using lifelong bonds. The College – well beyond its wonderful academics – made me who I am today.
The bulk of that is based on the community established at Whitman and nurtured over the years. I contrast my experience with my son’s, even though we’ve tried hard to insure a fairly traditional upbringing.
- My sons went to preschool beginning at 18 months and have friends throughout the city because of it. Many in their core group of friends in elementary school have moved away or live in another part of town. But they still communicate using social media tools or texting.
I just wonder if the bonds and commitment will last. And if they don’t have we lost part of the fabric of our community. Have we lost the reason to help our neighbor because we don’t know them? To help a fellow student because they look different from us?
It was gratifying to have my son discuss the three colleges we visited from a sense of what I believe is true community. Each of the schools is academically strong. The differences are in the intangible and sense of belonging one feels. He wants to go where he feels he belongs, where “everybody knows your name” but also where you’re free to express yourself in a variety of ways. These are his descriptions:
- Just felt kind of dull and boring to me. They didn’t seem to care a lot about each other
- Nice feeling and quiet but they go downtown for their entertainment so don’t seem to hang out together
- Lots of variety and cool stuff going on that I could enjoy. Kids just running in/out of each others’ rooms.
Okay, I’ll admit that the college he enjoyed the most is also my alma mater but I think he’s looking at the right things. He’s recognizing what makes up the fabric of his community. What’s sewn into your life’s fabric? Critical to your community? How can we make sure others understand the importance of community, and that it’s whatever you make of it as long as it’s irreplaceable.
Photo credit: Whitman College
June 14, 2010
It’s no secret I work in a profession — public relations — that many don’t consider to be terribly ethical. In fact there are surveys that put their trust in public relations professionals right above used car salesmen and just below lawyers. Ouch! As public relations professionals, we agree to abide by a Code of Ethics in our profession. It’s really not that different from other professions or than my mother taught me growing up.
- Be Honest and Tell the Truth
- Advocate for Those we Represent
- Responsibly Use the Knowledge and Expertise We Have
- Be Independent and Loyal
- Be Fair
Looking at these lessons from another perspective, a college friend shared a guide from a professor we all admired. Dr. Ball, who recently turned 95, had an impact on virtually every student who attended Whitman College during the past 40+ years. Dr. Ball’s advice to my tennis-playing friend:
“If you cannot see it, then do not call it out. And if you can see it with a smidge of confidence, then call it out or in with a bit more confidence. If you think your opponent’s shot might have landed on the line, but are not sure, call it in. Always be the bigger player in the calls. And the analogy to life has stuck with me all these years.”
When you look at it like that it doesn’t seem that hard to live an ethical life or practice your profession in an ethical manner. So, why do we find it so hard to do so? I think sometimes we just forget a tenet in the Code. We forget to be sure of what we’re doing and we lose confidence in our own expertise and knowledge. Once that happens, it’s easier to cross the line. If you’re like me you have reminders that help you stay on the “straight and narrow.”
Throughout our professional and personal lives we are faced with many such calls and instances where others don’t always call the game correctly. If we all work together we can help everyone call a better game and be sure the ball stays in the court.
June 1, 2010
The Barber Group became reality. After 22 years working for someone else, I opened my own public relations and communications consultancy. But this post really isn’t about the numerous accomplishments and the clients I’ve helped through crisis. Instead, it’s about the primary reason I went into this venture in the first place. It’s a reminder of what’s important in life.
James (left) and Thomas Barber in the summer of 2000.
I started The Barber Group to give my two boys, Thomas and James, the support they needed to grow into future leaders. To help them through school and extra activities. And, to allow them the change to spend lazy summer days hanging out in the neighborhood with their friends instead of traipsing off to day camps. At the time my husband was in the Alaska Air National Guard and we knew he was facing overseas deployments at an increased rate. All these factors and, quite honestly, the desire to see if I could make a go on my own, played into the decision to open The Barber Group.
I think it worked out pretty well so far. Today, Thomas and James are strapping young men who are good students, athletes and leaders. Thomas is already an Eagle Scout and James likely will be by the end of the summer. More important to me and my husband is that they are caring and thoughtful people. I don’t want you to think there haven’t been challenges and there aren’t many moments of the normal teen issues in our house because there are. But, our ability to put the focus where it makes the most difference for so many years is paying off for us.
Along the way, I’ve been a strong advocate for my communities through volunteer service. I’ve been a regular fixture in the classroom and serve the Public Relations Society of America both locally and nationally. Currently I’m also on the Alumni Board for Whitman College and I’ve led various local nonprofit efforts. Of course, I’ve also done a lot of work for clients of which I’m very proud.
But as I begin the next ten years as an independent communications consultant, I think it’s important to reflect on what’s important in life…family.
James (left) and Thomas Barber checking out the scene; summer 2009
